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Why do you send your kids to school?

5K views 54 replies 40 participants last post by  Paymeister 
#1 ·
I think most of us agree that we carry to protect ourselves and the family, our kids, and we all recognize that it can happen anywhere, anytime.

So what compels us to send our kids away 8+ hours every day to a place where NOBODY can protect them??

I can't quite fathom the idea of sending the most defenseless member of the family out on their own, day in and day out, but soooooooooo many people do it!!!! Why???
 
#34 ·
At some point we must let our children go. We prepare our children for adulthood, and we gradually need to let go as they grow.

No matter where you are, something bad may happen.

To me it is irrational to home school to protect your children from school shootings. I can see home schooling for other reasons, but the primary reason should not be for protection.
 
#35 ·
School shootings are horrible. And tragic. And heartbreaking. And rare...

I have considered homeschooling many many times. And I respect those who make that choice. When I've considered homeschooling it's for the quality of the education, not the teachers mind you, but the approved curriculum. Everytime I mention something they know nothing about (most recently I asked why is this date signifigant....anyone...anyone....OMG it's the anniversary of Pearl Harbor - WHAT ARE THEY NOT TEACHING YOU SCHOOL?!) I reconsider homeschooling. I've never considered doing it because of the remote possibility of something like this happening.

Don't misunderstand me. I am shaken to the core. Especially that this time it was an elementary school. Not a peer who flipped out in high school, which is horrible enough, but a grown man at an elementary school. I can't wrap my brain around it. I haven't accepted it yet.

At the end of the day I send them to public school for several reasons. First and foremost, we are a two income family. We used to make it on one but the cost of everything, especially groceries, keeps going up and up and I've got 5 kiddies to feed. So I have returned to work - only part time so I can still be home for when I need to be. And if I am completely honest with you, I really don't have the patience to homeschool and do it well. To do grades 9, 6, 4, 2 (that one is special ed btw) and kindergarten at once is more organization that I can handle. I taught for many years and I loved it with every fiber of my being. But I taught severe and profound handicapped kids. Not regular ed. Regular ed is a whole different animal and it's not my strength.

I don't want to raise my kids in a bubble. IMO a home invasion is more likely than a school shooting. I can't protect them 100% of the time, no matter how much I want to. I've had more friends killed with cars than anything else. I've lost many students over the years to complications of their disability or from seizure. Family to various illnesses over the years. Not one to violent crime. Does it happen? Of course it does. I carry everywhere I'm allowed by law to be able to protect meself and my family, but I still believe it's a rare event. I will not raise them to live in fear of walking out the front door. I do wish teachers and parents had the option to be armed in schools. When I was still teaching and we did lock down drills, I hated that sitting duck feeling - it was just a drill but it was such an uneasy feeling - lock the door, get in the closet and hope no one gets in. Egads. Would I have given my life for any one of my students? Gladly. Would I EXPECT someone else to? Never. But I support the choice.
 
#36 ·
I actually teach in a public school. Your concerns are valid, and they frighten me, too. What's to keep ME safe? I think that my daughters school is excellent, it's a block from the PD, and I KNOW that I'm not a primary teacher, I'm a HS teacher. I couldn't afford to quit work and school her and her sister, but I'd be pretty sad without her, too.

Honestly, I'm wrestling with this. I do believe that the quality of education in schools in much maligned. The kids who want to succeed and who have parents backing them do very well. It's just that there are so many kids who are NOT supported - nobody checks their homework, attendance, etc.

As for safety, we do drills. Our force fields will protect us once the lock down procedure is intiated. (please recognize the sarcasm there).
 
#39 ·
Up until about a year ago, our son would go to school like any other kid. After several pleads and complaints that he didn't like the school, the wife started researching home school options. She found one online high school that is accredited, but I was still skeptical. The day came that my son came home with a "I saw kids using drugs at school" story and I agreed with my wife to pull him out of the brick and mortar school system in lieu of the online home schooling. The other day, I was telling my wife about the CT school shooting that she said to me that she was glad he doesn't go to the brick/mortar schools anymore. The online school has been working out for the best for all of us, too.
 
#45 ·
We don't see people wanting our Lawmakers banning schools now do we? That might be a problem as well.

For multitudes of reasons any place can be dangerous for children, schools just happen to be the preferential target of crazed individuals. Rather than concentrate on keeping children from public schools, we need to better equip those who are responsible for the school and its safety for the kids.

Right now we have only minimal things in place to guard against what happend in Connecticut, now is the time to look at common sense when defending a target rich environment such as a school. We won't keep the wolves from the sheep all the time, but making it known that the sheep dog has some teeth may prevent some of it. It is certainly a sad state of affairs when we have the need to arm our teachers with firearms to protect and defend. However, that may be the only answer to this problem.

We pay taxes to fund public schools. The people who tax us need to know we want, we demand that better measure are put into place to guard against such attrocities.
 
#46 ·
If one wants to look at the safety issues of home schooling vs. public/private schools.

The facts are that more children die in homes each year than they do in public/private schools.

For anyone to imply that by sending your children to school away from home they are putting their lives as risk is simple nonsense and ignores the facts. As far as the other issues, that might be debateable, but the safety issue certainly isn't.
 
#49 ·
Short answer? To formally educate them and socialize them. Unfortunately homeschooling wasn't an option when our kids were in school, and not everyone is cut out for it. My wife was active duty AF and I worked to help support my family and provide for the tools (primarily education, but extracurricular) that would serve them well and help them become active well rounded members of their ultimate chosen community. We didn't always have control over where she was sent but I spent many years playing mr. mom, creating the best and safest life for them. That included where and how we lived and the private and safest Christian schools they attended. We taught them to be always be aware and to never fear raising the alarm if they ever felt threatened. By the grace of God, we made it through the parenting years with no major mishaps. Our youngest son graduated in '98 and as odd as the 90's were, they now seem like the Eisenhower years compared to today. My fear now is the challenges and threats our grandchildren will face.
 
#52 ·
Short answer? To formally educate them and socialize them. Unfortunately homeschooling wasn't an option when our kids were in school, and not everyone is cut out for it. My wife was active duty AF and I worked to help support my family and provide for the tools (primarily education, but extracurricular) that would serve them well and help them become active well rounded members of their ultimate chosen community. We didn't always have control over where she was sent but I spent many years playing mr. mom, creating the best and safest life for them. That included where and how we lived and the private and safest Christian schools they attended. We taught them to be always be aware and to never fear raising the alarm if they ever felt threatened. By the grace of God, we made it through the parenting years with no major mishaps. Our youngest son graduated in '98 and as odd as the 90's were, they now seem like the Eisenhower years compared to today. My fear now is the challenges and threats our grandchildren will face.
this. a lot of home schooled kids grow up to be anti-social weirdos...no offense.

anyway... what, 3 school shootings in 20 years and we stop going to public schools now? isn't that letting the criminals win?
 
#51 ·
I never considered homeshooling, but I did move to a small town with a better school district that actually cared about kids and had teachers that aren't completely sold on the liberal agenda. I always believed the social interaction at school was just as important as what they tried to teach you in the building.

My daughter on the other hand has a different opinion. She's considering homeschooling because she doesn't trust what the schools seem to push, and doesn't like the idea of all these gun free zones. We've got a few years before she has to decide, so we'll see I guess.
 
#53 ·
We homeschool our children, but safety was never really one of the concerns that brought us to that decision. If we decided we had to send them to school now, it still wouldn't be one of the considerations. School shootings are such a small probability risk that I just don't worry about it.

Our decision involved a whole range of other things, the first being that we actually CAN (we can make it on my income alone, and I recognize the privilege that represents). You can get a great education at public school (I did). It's like anything else; you get out of it what you're willing to put into it. My children happen to be getting a FANTASTIC education from my wife at home, and that is one of the major factors. It also makes our schedule for the family very flexible, and it gives us a choice in almost everything.

Another factor is that they are not being indoctrinated into looking to the government to provide things for them like education and opportunity. They are being taught ACTIVELY that they can provide these things for themselves. The government is also not teaching them it's own version of right and wrong, which is hopelessly out of whack. They are getting OUR values, and if someone outside our family has a problem with that, that's tough.

As far as socialization, this is not an issue for most of the homeschoolers that I know. It is largely a straw man brought up by those that oppose homeschooling, and people that stereotype them as "anti-social weirdos" are mostly clueless. Yes this happens, but not often. The cases where that is true just get a lot of press because of the agenda of those reporting on it.

My children are involved in FAR more extracurricular activities than their public school friends including sports, music, drama, community service, etc. Relying on a public school environment to socialize your kids is sometimes like throwing them to the wolves and walking away, or throwing them into the deep end of the pool. Sometimes it works out great and makes them stronger, and sometimes it screws them up beyond all recognition. It depends on the input FROM PARENTS. My children are introduced to the complications of social interaction with lots of feedback, discussion, role playing, and analysis. It would be the same in public school, but with the activities they have as homeschoolers, they get the CHOICE of dealing with complicated and thorny social interactions in doses THEY can adjust as they need to. That works for us.

Niether of my kids has ever been to school. They are both in high school now (daughter 11th and son 9th grade). They are smart, social, well adjusted and both of them shoot great!

Deal with it.
 
#54 ·
GraySkies said it better than I could. I agree 100%.

Also, my kids will be home schooled because I believe my wife and I are more capable of raising and educating our kids than any government employee. No offense intended to the awesome teachers out there.
 
#55 ·
We homeschooled our daughter. For socialization, we were concerned that she might miss out on what public school kids get. So every couple of weeks or so we would take her into the bathroom, rough her up and take her lunch money.

Actually, she did pretty well getting socialized by the varied contacts she had through the church and community: she wasn't cooped up with 30 other kids her same age all day. She's a marvelous college senior now.

The real reason we homeschooled was this:


Christ said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's!" My daughter isn't Caesar's.


Yes, a homeschooled kid turns out warped. So do public school kids. I would just rather have my daughter warped like my wife and me rather than the 30 other animals in the classroom.

The Good Book says a student will become like their teacher, and they get more teaching from the peer group than the staff - both my wife and I were certificated teachers in California before we escaped. We KNOW what the schools do: without taking ANYTHING away from the highly dedicated teachers and staff (hats off to them - they're bailing the Titanic as best as they can), the system is set up to churn out disrespectful, dependent, poorly prepared, filled-with-a-sense-of-entitlement robots. And anyone worried about the technical parts of teaching can ALWAYS hire a tutor or get a book or an online program: the key part of education is that of a kid's character, and I submit that homeschool wins nearly every time.

BUT... I also recognize that most times through no fault of their own, there will be mom-and-kid(s)-only families, and mom has to work. That's a heartbreaker and I don't see an easy way out. But be cautious about the 'we both have to work' argument: we are voluntarily on the low side of middle class (cheap mobile home in the middle of nowhere, raise part of our food, one $900 car and one $600 car), because we wanted my wife to be able to raise our daughter. Yes, I recognize that many folks are trapped by debt and the culture: if you are, work heroically towards getting out. If you're not trapped, try to stay free. You have more options that way.
 
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